Border Numbers Up 31 Percent in One Month as ‘Catch and Release’ Continues

by BOB PRICE
10 Jun 2017
Washington, DC

The apprehension of illegal border crossers by Border Patrol agents jumped 31 percent in May from the previous month. The jump follows a six-month decline in apprehensions after the election of President Donald Trump. The increase comes as Border Patrol agents report “catch and release” programs are quietly continuing.

While still down significantly from the peak in October 2016, Border Patrol agents apprehended 14,535 illegal immigrants along the southwestern U.S. border with Mexico in May. That number is up from the 17-year low number of 11,126 reported in April. Since 2014, the number of apprehensions has increased from April to May.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

The numbers of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) jumped a startling 50 percent from April to May (997 to 1,493). During the same period, Family Unit Alien (FMUA) apprehensions jumped by 41 percent from 1,118 in April to 1,577 in May.

Of the nine Border Patrol sectors along the U.S. southwest border, the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Sector continues to lead in the numbers of total apprehensions, accounting for nearly half of the 46,183 apprehensions since October 1, 2016. The next closest sector is the Tucson Sector at 5,925.

The RGV sector also leads in UAC and FMUA apprehensions. So far this year, 4,082 UACs have been apprehended in South Texas while 8,718 FMUAs were apprehended. The El Paso Sector came in second place in both UAC and FMU apprehensions (621 and 1,482 respectively).

“Obama’s catch and release is definitely continuing and our government is releasing illegal aliens into U.S. communities,” Border Patrol agent Brandon Judd told Breitbart Texas in his capacity as president of the National Border Patrol Council. “The steps taken for such releases have slightly changed and the numbers are not as high, but it is still occurring. Under Trump, ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is holding more illegal aliens than what they did under Obama, but make no mistake, ICE is still releasing a good number of illegal aliens into U.S. communities. Americans need to know this.”

Agents previously expressed feeling betrayed by the new President’s administration after Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly appointed Kevin McAleenan as head of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of the U.S. Border Patrol.

“He nominated this guy .. the problem is that this guy was hired by Barack Obama and was made deputy of [CBP] and all of the things we fought against on the border happened under this guy’s watch and he would have been the one responsible for implementing them. That’s DACA, DAPA and Catch and Release.” Darby said in a Pursuit of Happiness interview referring to some programs started under the Obama Administration.

“This is the guy who was picked by Barack Obama to enact Barack Obama’s open border policies,” Darby explained. “This guy for some reason has been picked by Trump to be the boss of the border patrol agents who did so much and believed so much in Donald Trump.”

Nothing if you are a "good" illegal alien. As long as they don't commit a crime, it seems they're pretty safe. Even identity theft seems to be OK. With that said, DACA, free education, free anchor babies, welfare, why not come if that's what you want. It sounds like a good opportunity to me. Unless there are workplace raids and more deportations happen, then nothing will change. Maybe that's the plan.

It was reported on Fox News today that the May numbers were 64% lower than last May. But the Catch and Release must stop, or be explained. There is an Executive Order signed by the President ending the Catch and Release, that's all you need to know. He's the boss, I don't want any whining about waiting for ''new instructions', you have an ORDER, follow it and do your jobs, catch them and lock 'em up or catch them and throw them back over the border, just get them out of the United States and keep 'em out.

Agents previously expressed feeling betrayed by the new President’s administration after Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly appointed Kevin McAleenan as head of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of the U.S. Border Patrol.

“He nominated this guy .. the problem is that this guy was hired by Barack Obama and was made deputy of [CBP] and all of the things we fought against on the border happened under this guy’s watch and he would have been the one responsible for implementing them. That’s DACA, DAPA and Catch and Release.” Darby said in a Pursuit of Happiness interview referring to some programs started under the Obama Administration.

“This is the guy who was picked by Barack Obama to enact Barack Obama’s open border policies,” Darby explained. “This guy for some reason has been picked by Trump to be the boss of the border patrol agents who did so much and believed so much in Donald Trump.”

Secretary Kelly continues to show his true colors! President Trump is either not paying attention, or worse yet, is complicit in wanting Kevin McAleenan, a former Obama hire, as head of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Something is very wrong with this picture.

Yeah, Trump really needs his own people in these positions. These Obama hires are proving themselves to be really bad news bears. They gotta go!!

As for Kelly, I think Trump chose him for border security, securing the border, stopping the trafficking of people, sex and drugs as well as to enforce immigration law against the "bad ones", the criminals. I think Trump thought his military logistics background would be good in that area of enforcement and Trump was right about that, but Kelly is not the right person to set broad policy, Trump will still have to do that himself and then demand his policies be implemented.